Newsroom

Albany, NY – February 25, 2015 – Sebastian Solomon, LAC’s new Director of New York State Policy, will be testifying tomorrow on behalf of the NYS Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) and Re-entry Coalition in response to the Governor’s FY2015-2016 Executive budget.

We are delighted to announce that Sebastian Solomon has been promoted to Director of New York State Policy at the Legal Action Center. Sebastian has been with LAC since 2001, most recently in the position of Policy Associate. Sebastian has fought tirelessly for the rights of New Yorkers for the past 14 years, and he will continue standing up for those in need of second chances in his new role.

New York, NY—On January 27, 2015, a federal court in New York ruled in favor of LAC’s client, Kevin A. Jones, by declining to dismiss Mr. Jones’ class action lawsuit against Halstead Management Company, LLC and other related companies for illegal criminal background screening practices that cost Mr. Jones a job as a doorman.

NEW YORK, NY—January 28, 2015 –The Legal Action Center (LAC) today applauded Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposals to raise the age of criminal responsibility, improve linkages between the criminal justice and health care systems, and increase investment in addiction prevention, treatment and recovery, as well as other other reforms included in his 2015 budget.

New York State should take additional forceful, targeted actions to address the public health emergency of prescription drug and heroin dependence. “Using $298 million that has been allocated to its Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) for 2015, the State now has an opportunity to create even more momentum in its efforts to combat the scourge of addiction and prescription drug and heroin misuse,” according to Paul Samuels.

In an effort to improve adolescent wellness, prevention and early interventions, Legal Action Center (LAC) has partnered with the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and Truven Health Analytics (Truven Health) to assess how the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Parity Act) is impacting adolescent substance use care.

The Legal Action Center (LAC) seeks a Health Policy Attorney in its New York office to work on cutting edge legal and policy issues related to health care privacy and access to care, particularly addiction and mental health services.

On Sunday, December 7, Tracie Gardner, LAC’s Co-Director of Policy, joined colleagues and fellow NYS End of AIDS Task Force members Benjamin Bashien, Executive Director of ACRIA, and Doug Wirth, CEO of Amidcare, on an episode of WABC’s Sunday morning news show ViewPoint to talk about the End Of AIDS initiative.

The Second Chance Act provides critical reentry resources at a time when they are desperately needed. In 2009, federal and state prisons held over 1.6 million inmates—one in every 199 U.S. residents—and released 729,295 individuals back to their communities.